Thursday, April 19, 2007

Two Minutes in the Life of a Stay-at-Home Parent


My husband thinks my job is easy. Really easy. In fact, so easy, complaining about it at all means I should get a REAL job. I go to the gym three days a week. The girls stay at the gym daycare for a couple of hours in the morning. I pick them up, feed them lunch, and put them down for a nap. They nap at the same time. Liv gets up an hour before Lila. But, usually, I get two hours to myself. What do I have to complain about? After all, my house isn't the picture of clean (it's not, generally, dirty or messy - just some where in between). How hard can a day be?

Fact: Gym is three days a week. According to Matt, I'm a stay-at-home mom all seven. I'll give him credit in that he's a wonderful diaper changer and he's my laundry guy. He does more than a lot of dads do. He cross-country skies with Liv, he takes her for walks, he wears Lila in the Ergo Carrier, he reads them books, starts the bath and puts Liv to bed very often. But, oh, it's still hard staying at home with them my DH (dear husband).

Example: This morning, while Lila was napping, Liv was playing quietly in my room. So, I ran downstairs to get some laundry. I was gone all of two minutes. As I entered the bedroom, I smelled it. Oh, no she didn't...oh, yes she did. There she was, leaning over the toilet, with a proud expression on her face, "My poopy, mommy! My poopy!!!! I put it in the toilet."

With her HANDS! She had taken off her panties, pooped on the floor (my fault because I had closed the door to her bathroom where her potty is), picked it up and put it in the toilet. Her dress was stuck to her butt and as I took off the dress, I realized that she had it all over her. Into the bath she went!

A friend of mine recently told me we should take a trip to Anchorage this summer. I'd have to bring Lila because I'm nursing. But, I could leave Olivia behind with Matt. While I love my husband dearly and I know Matt is a wonderful and capable father, I think he'd get to see half (the other half, Lila, would be with me) of what I go through each day. Maybe his perspective would change a little bit....

I love my girls and I wouldn't trade this job. But, as a stay-at-home parent, I'm a work-in-progress and at times, I want to pull my hair out.

4 comments:

Tricia said...

You gotta love the poop stories! I literally laughed out loud when I read this, and HAD to share it with my co-workers. Keep the stories coming.

I hope all is well.

Tricia

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! I would have just laughed. (What else can you really do?)

I give Larry a hard time sometimes about getting to stay home with Simone, but I know really how difficult it is. 'Course, I still have to criticize his house-cleaning. I'm learning to let go, but it's difficult because he just doesn't clean like I do!!!

I sometimes cherish that I get to leave for a few hours for work! Sad, but true.

Amie Davis said...

That is a classic - gotta love her smiling in the tub to top it all off!!! Even a story like that makes me eager to become a mom...some day...

Angie said...

ewwww! I guess she definitely knows where the poop should go.